Leadership Excellence And Development

11. The Law of the Inner Circle – A Leader’s Potential Is Determined by Those Closest to Him. Nobody does anything great alone, nor do leaders succeed alone. What makes the difference is the leader’s inner circle. As you consider whether individuals should be in your inner circle, ask yourself the following questions. If you can answer yes to these questions, then they are excellent candidates for your inner circle:

1) Do They Have High Influence with Others? – One key to successful leadership is the ability to influence the people who influence others. How do you do that? By drawing influencers into your inner circle.

2) Do They Bring a Complementary Gift to the Table? – Bring a few key people into my inner circle who possess strengths in your areas of weakness.

3) Do They Hold a Strategic Position in the Organization? – Some people belong in your inner circle because of their importance to the organization. If you and they are not working on the same page, the entire organization is in trouble.

4) Do They Add Value to Me and to the Organization? – The people in your inner circle must add value to you personally. They should also have a proven track record as assets to the organization. Seek for your inner circle people who help you improve.

5) Do They Positively Impact Other Inner Circle Members? – Team chemistry is vital. You want your inner circle to have a good fit with one another. You also want inner circle members to make one another better, to raise one another’s game.

Once you’ve reached your capacity in time and energy, the only way you can increase your impact is through others. Surround yourself with high performers that extend your influence beyond your reach and help you to grow and become a better leader.

10. The Law of Connection – Leaders Touch a Heart Before They Ask for a Hand

For leaders to be effective, they need to connect with people. All great leaders recognize this truth and act on it almost instinctively. You can’t move people to action unless you first move them with emotion.

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” You develop credibility with people when you connect with them and show that you genuinely care and want to help them. And as a result, they usually respond in kind and want to help you.

How do you connect with people?

1) Connect with Yourself – If you don’t believe in who you are and where you want to lead, work on that before doing anything else.

2) Communicate with Openness and Sincerity – People can smell a phony a mile away. Authentic leaders connect.

3) Know Your Audience – When you work with individuals, knowing your audience means learning people’s names, finding out their histories, asking about their dreams. When you communicate to an audience, you learn about the organization and its goals. You want to speak about what they care about.

5) Go to Where They Are – Remove as many barriers to communication as possible. Try to be attuned to their culture, background, education, and so on. Adapt to others; don’t expect them to adapt to me.

6) Focus on Them, Not Yourself – Focus on others, not yourself. That is the number one problem of inexperienced speakers and ineffective leaders.

7) Believe in Them – It’s one thing to communicate to people because you believe you have something of value to say. It’s another to communicate with people because you believe they have value. People’s opinions of us have less to do with what they see in us than with what we can help them see in themselves.

8) Give Them Hope – French general Napoleon Bonaparte said, “Leaders are dealers in hope.” When you give people hope, you give them a future.

Successful leaders who obey the Law of Connection are always initiators. They take the first step with others and then make the effort to continue building relationships. It’s not always easy, but it’s important to the success of the organization. A leader has to do it, no matter how many obstacles there might be.

You connect with others when you learn their names, make yourself available to them, tell them how much you appreciate them, find out what they are doing, and most important, listen to them.

There’s an old saying: To lead yourself, use your head; to lead others, use your heart. That’s the nature of the Law of Connection. Always touch a person’s heart before you ask for a hand.

In most situations, you draw people to you who possess the same qualities you do.

Who you are is who you attract. If you want to attract better people, become the kind of person you desire to attract.

Effective Leaders are always on the lookout for good people. What qualities do these people possess? What qualities are you looking for in the people you want to lead your organization or the people you want to follow?

Who you get is not determined by what you want. It’s determined by who you are. Leaders draw people who are like themselves.

The better leader you are, the better leaders you will attract. If want to have better leaders around you, start with improving yourself first.

Famed businessman and entertainment mogul, Donald Trump is loved, hated, praised, and reviled concurrently on any given day.

He can command respect while attracting derision with almost anything he says or does.

He is generally known to be incredibly successful but he has seen his share of financial decline and uncertainty.

He is an enigma who changes his presentation, mood, and disposition with disconcerting irregularity.

In short, Donald Trump simultaneously represents everything people in the western world want and much of what we find repugnant. So, how does he do it and why do we care?

What drives “The Donald” and why does he work so hard?

The Donald

As a behavioural analyst, it is clear to me that Mr. Trump is a highly dominant individual. He has an overwhelming desire to win and he becomes very angry when faced with potential failure or disrespect.

8. The Law of Intuition – Leaders Evaluate Everything with a Leadership Bias

The Law of Intuition is based on facts coupled with instincts plus other intangible factors, such as employee morale, organizational momentum, and relationship dynamics.

The Law of Intuition often separates the great leaders from the merely good ones.

Leadership intuition is the ability of a leader to read what’s going on. For that reason, I say that leaders are readers:

1) Leaders Are Readers of Their Situation – Leaders pick up on details that might elude others. They sense people’s attitudes. They are able to detect the chemistry of a team. They know the situation before they have all the facts.

2) Leaders Are Readers of Trends – Leaders discern where the organization is headed, often times they sense it first and find data later to explain it. Their intuition tells them that something is happening, that conditions are changing. Leaders must always be a few steps ahead of their people, or they’re not really leading.

3) Leaders Are Readers of Their Resources – Leaders think in terms or resources and how to maximize them for the benefit of their organization. They are continually aware of what they have at their disposal.

4) Leaders Are Readers of People – Intuition helps leaders sense what’s happening among people and know their hopes, fears and concerns. Reading people is perhaps the most important intuitive skill leaders can possess.

5) Leaders are Readers of Themselves – Leaders must know not only their own strengths and weaknesses, but also their current state of mind. Why? Because leaders can hinder progress just as easily as they can help create it.

Without intuition, leaders get blindsided, and that’s one of the worst things that can happen to a leader. If you want to lead well, and stay ahead of others, you’ve got to obey the Law of Intuition.

7. The Law of Respect – People Naturally Follow Leaders Stronger Than Themselves

People naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves.

That’s how the Law of Respect works. People don’t follow others by accident. People who are an 8 in leadership don’t look for a 6 to follow – they naturally follow a 9 or 10.

The less skilled follow the more highly skilled and gifted. Occasionally, a strong leader may choose to follow someone weaker than himself. But when that happens, it’s for a reason. For example, the stronger leader my do it out of respect for the person’s office or past accomplishments. Or he may be following the chain of command.

In general though, followers are attracted to people who are better leaders than themselves. When people get together for the first time in a group, take a look at what happens. As they start interacting, the leaders in the group immediately take charge. But after the people get to know one another, it doesn’t take long for them to recognize the strongest leaders and to start following them.

In time, people in the group get on board and follow the strongest leaders. Either that or they leave the group to pursue their own agenda.

Top Six Ways That Leaders Gain Others’ Respect

1) Natural Leadership Ability– if you possess it, people will want to follow you. They will become excited when you communicate vision.

2) Respect For Others– when leaders show respect for others – especially for people who have less power or a lower position than theirs – they gain respect from others. If you continually respect others and consistently lead them well, you will continue to have followers.

3) Courage– Good leaders do what’s right, even at the risk of failure, in the face of great danger and under the brunt of relentless criticism. Can you think of one great leader from history who was without courage? A leader’s courage gives his followers hope.

4) Success – When leaders succeed in leading the team to victory, then followers believe they can do it again. As a result, followers follow them because they want to be part of success in the future.

5)Loyalty– When leaders stick with the team until the job is done and look out for their followers best interests even when it hurts them personally, followers will in turn learn to respect them.

6) Value Added to Others– Followers value leaders who add value to them and their respect for them carries on long after the relationship has ended.

Trust is the foundation of leadership. It is the most important thing. Leaders cannot repeatedly break trust with people and continue to influence them.

Your people know when you make mistakes. The real question is whether you’re going to fess up. If you do, you can often regain their trust.

How does a leader build trust? By consistently exemplifying competence, connection and character. People will forgive occasional mistakes on ability. And they will give you time to connect. But they won’t trust someone who has slips in character.

Character Communicates – a person’s character quickly communicates many things to others. Here are the most important ones:

Character Communicates Consistency – leaders without inner strength can’t be counted on day after day because their ability to perform changes constantly.

Character Communicates Potential – weak character is limiting. Who do you think has the greater potential to achieve great dreams: someone who is honest, disciplined, and hardworking or someone who is deceitful, impulsive and lazy?

Character Communicates Respect – When you don’t have character within, you can’t earn respect without. How do leaders earn respect? By making sound decisions, by admitting their mistakes, and by putting what’s best for their followers and the organization ahead of their personal agendas.

No leader can break trust with his people and expect to keep influencing them. Trust is the foundation of leadership. Violate the Law of Solid Ground, and you diminish your influence as a leader.

1) Truly Value Others – Effective leaders go beyond not harming others, they intentionally help others. They must value people and demonstrate they care in such a way that their followers know it.

2) Make Yourself More Valuable To Others – The more intentionally you have been in growing personally, the more you have to offer your followers.

3)Know and Relate to What Others Value – This can only come by listening to your people’s stories, their hopes and dreams. Learn what is valuable to them and then lead based on what you’ve learned.

4) Do Things That God Values – God desires us not only to treat people with respect, but also to actively reach out to them and serve them.

The attitude of the leader affects the atmosphere of the office. If you desire to add value by serving others, you will become a better leader. And your people will achieve more, develop more loyalty, and have a better time getting things done than you ever thought possible. That’s the power of the Law of Addition.

4. The Law of Navigation – Anyone Can Steer the Ship, but It Takes a Leader to Chart the Course

First-rate navigators always have in mind that other people are depending on them and their ability to chart a good course.

Before good leaders take their people on a journey, they go through a process in order to give the trip the best chance of being a success:

Navigators Draw on Past Experience – Every past success and failure you’ve experienced can be a valuable source of information and wisdom. Success teaches you what you’re capable of doing and gives you confidence. However, your failures can often teach greater lessons, if you allow them to. If you fail to learn from your mistakes, you’re going to fail again and again.

Navigators Examine the Conditions Before Making Commitments – No good leader plans a course of action without paying attention to current conditions. Good navigators count the cost before making commitments for themselves and others.

Navigators Listen To What Others Have to Say – Navigating leaders get ideas from many sources. They listen to members of their leadership team. They spend time with leaders of other organizations who can mentor them. They always think in terms of relying on a team, not just themselves.

Navigators Make Sure Their Conclusions Represent Both Faith and Fact – A leader has to possess a positive attitude. If you can’t confidently make the trip in your mind, you’re not going to be able to take it in real life. On the other hand, you also have to be able to see the facts realistically. If you don’t go in with your eyes wide open, you’re going to get blindsided. Balancing optimism and realism, faith and fact can be very difficult.

Charting A Course with A Navigation Strategy – here’s an acrostic that the author used repeatedly in his leadership.

Predetermine a course of action.

Lay out your goals.

Adjust your priorities.

Notify key personnel.

Allow time for acceptance.

Head into action.

Expect problems.

Always point to the successes.

Daily review your plan.

The secret to the Law of Navigation is preparation. When you prepare well, you convey confidence and trust to people. Leaders who are good navigators are capable of taking their people just about anywhere.